CANADIAN COUNCIL FOR REFUGEES FALL CONSULTATIONS

By Mila Voihanski

The Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR) Fall Consultations and Annual Meeting in London, Ontario in November 2005 were very well attended by both NGO’s and Government officials responsible for immigrants and refugees.  I represented JIAS Canada at those meetings.

The Executive Elections took place at the Annual Meeting and Elizabeth McWeeny of Thunder Bay was elected President.

Several Working Groups met during the session such as:  Overseas Protections and Sponsorship; Working Group on Inland Protection: Immigration and Settlement Working Group.

Being a member of the Immigration and Settlement Working Group, I took part in the meeting on Friday November 18^th where we discussed issues such as; Family Reunification Policies; Access to Basic Services: Youth Issues; Relations between NGO’s and funders; New Federal Monies; CISSA (see separate article) the new immigrant settlement body; and Provincial updates.  A number of resolutions were brought forward by the Group and were passed at the Annual Meeting.  Some of these were on poverty; anti-homophobia; living wages; national housing campaign; youth participation; access for persons with disabilities etc.

The Taskforce on Professionalization (of which I am a member) was able to meet in person during the CCR Consultations.  It was an opportunity to discuss the current situation and share concerns.  The group reviewed provincial/regional stakeholders’ involvement in the project; feedback and the proposal presented by the CIC (Citizenship and Immigration Canada). 

Currently the Taskforce is discussing ways to implement this project including training and accreditation.  The CIC has expressed a clear interest in working with us on this.  OCASI (The Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants), one of the umbrella organizations, strongly recommended that a salary grid be part of this project.  It was proposed that a salary scale be established with 3 to 4 agencies as an example.  OCASI will share the salary scale in Ontario with other sister Agencies in the country.  At present AAISA (the Alberta Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies) is conducting a salary scale study of its own.

The Consultations afforded me the opportunity to meet with representatives of various NGO’s as well as senior CIC Officials, to share our common experiences and goals and bring a Jewish perspective to this audience.

Mila Voihanski is Executive Director of JIAS Canada